Archive for the ‘Fandi Ahmad’ Category
OlehRahmad Sakom
PETANG Sabtu lalu, saya bersantai menonton saringan pertandingan dansa di Suntec City. Hadiahnya lumayan, dengar-dengar bercuti ke luar negeri. Sambutannya hangat, ramai saya lihat macam tak sabar-sabar mahu tunjuk bakat. Saya hitung-hitung ada lebih 100 peserta, rata-rata remaja.
Seorang demi seorang beraksi. Silap-silap pandang saya seolah-olah melihat Chris Brown, Usher atau Justin Timberlake ligat di pentas. Hmm… memang hebat, setanding aksi di MTV.
Saya perasan ramai remaja Melayu sekaki dan seperti dijangka mereka antara yang paling kreatif.
Jika dibandingkan dengan kaum lain, remaja kita memang tidak kalah bakatnya. Tapi sayang, ada satu aspek yang pincang.
Dengar-dengar, sedang ramai remaja bukan Melayu beria-ia mengikuti latihan secara formal (menyertai dance school yang diiktiraf), majoriti remaja Melayu hanya berlatih sesama sendiri (setakat di bawah blok) .
Matlamat mereka hanya masuk peraduan secara suka-suka. Itu saja.
Sayang sekali, kerana mungkin ada antara mereka yang berbakat ala Usher atau Justin dan mampu melangkah jauh hingga ke luar negara dan mana tahu, boleh menjadikan tarian sebagai sumber rezeki.
Jika anda seorang instruktor dansa bertauliah, nampak gayanya poket anda sentiasa sarat kerana sering jadi pengadil undangan atau jika ada modal boleh buka ‘dance studio’ sendiri.
‘Kita harus pandang jauh’ kata Sairul Ramli, yang sudah jatuh bangun dalam bidang tarian lebih sedekad.
Sairul, 29 tahun, memang berpengalaman (sudah puluhan kali menyertai peraduan tarian dan pernah jadi juara). Malah, Sairul juga pernah muncul dalam peraduan tarian di TV seperti The Dance Floor Channel 5 dan Dhool Vasantham Central. Oh ya! Sairul juga sering jadi koreografer grup dansa.
Cakap mudahnya, Sairul memang berbakat besar tetapi beliau tidak ada sijil atau tidak masuk kelas formal.
Akibatnya? Walaupun ‘resume’ Sairul kencang dan beliau pernah menjadi instruktor tarian di sebuah pusat pengajian di sini, bayaran yang diterima jauh lebih rendah berbanding instruktor bertauliah. Malah, institusi itu menasihatinya agar mendapatkan sijil.
‘Masa interviu, mereka tak tengok pun VCD atau video persembahan saya. Mereka hanya mahu tahu saya ada sijil atau tidak,’ cerita Sairul.
Cabaran Sairul boleh dijadikan contoh betapa bakat atau kemahiran besar yang dimiliki perlu dimanfaatkan dengan wajar.
Saya duga mungkin masalah kewangan antara punca ramai remaja kita setakat giat sesama sendiri saja atau berpuas hati dengan pencapaian mereka dan tidak berminat melangkah lebih jauh.
Apakah ada badan-badan yang sedia membantu golongan ini? Apa kata sediakan pinjaman atau dermasiswa?
Sijil atau ijazah bukan hanya perlu dalam bidang akademik, bahkan dalam bidang seperti seni, sukan dan fesyen.
Jika anda ada minat atau bakat jadi jurulatih bola sepak, pastikan anda memiliki lesen yang diperlukan.
Muzik? Pastikan anda tahu baca tauge (not muzik) selain pandai bermain alat muzik atau latihan vokal yang mantap. Berdendang di bilik mandi atau berkaraoke saja tidak cukup. Begitu juga fesyen pakaian.
Fandi Ahmad dan Ashley Isham antara contoh bakat besar yang disalurkan dengan baik menerusi penimbaan ilmu. Hasilnya, mereka mampu melangkah jauh.
Fandi (yang menjadi rebutan kelab) kini menjadi jurulatih bola sepak di Indonesia dan Ashley menempa nama dalam dunia fesyen di London.
Kisah Fandi dan Ashley menjadi bukti bahawa warga Singapura boleh cemerlang dalam apa jua bidang yang diminatinya.
Baru-baru ini, Menteri Pengangkutan merangkap Menteri Kedua Ehwal Luar, Encik Raymond Lim, tetamu terhormat Majlis Anugerah Jauhari Berita Harian ke-10, menekankan aspek ini.
Anugerah Jauhari menarik perhatiannya kerana penerima anugerah itu datang daripada pelbagai bidang – perubatan, fesyen, seni dan sukan hinggalah ke kerja-kerja kebajikan dan kemanusiaan.
‘Ia penting kerana dengan menghargai dan meraikan pencapaian mereka, kita mengukuhkan idea bahawa kita sebuah masyarakat yang menerima pelbagai jenis kejayaan.
‘Ini kritikal kerana dengan meluaskan takrif kejayaan, kita memastikan bahawa setiap warga Singapura boleh jadi cemerlang dalam bidang pilihannya, tidak kira apa pun,’ kata Encik Lim lagi.
Bagi remaja Melayu yang berbakat besar dalam apa juga bidang, timbalah ilmu dan rancang masa depan. ‘Suka-suka saja’ tidak akan membawa ke mana-mana.
Cyberita
AKHIRNYA kemarau pingat Olimpik Singapura tertebus jua selepas 48 tahun apabila pasukan tenis meja wanita Singapura meraih pingat perak. Kalangan warga Singapura sinis menyatakan kejayaan ini disebabkan separuh pasukan Singapura merupakan bakat asing. Namun dek penyejagatan, bakat asing merupakan realiti dunia. Liga Perdana England (EPL) yang diminati di seluruh dunia merupakan penampilan bakat asing dalam kelab bola sepak Britain. Bahkan kejayaan pasukan Perancis dalam Piala Dunia sedekad lalu ialah pencetus azam politik Singapura bagi memulakan skim sukan yang menyerap bakat asing.
Memanglah kejayaan paling kental tentulah apabila anak watan yang menjadi juara dalam apa jua bidang yang bermanfaat. Singapura amat menyedari hal ini. Namun sejarahnya, dari zaman jemaah menteri pertama sehingga kini, ditandai bakat asing yang menjadi warga setempat. Secara pragmatik, kita perlu memikirkan apakah nisbah bakat watan dan asing untuk membentuk Singapura yang berjaya? Tidak lama dahulu, Menteri Kanan, Encik Lee Kuan Yew, menimbulkan formula anak watan dan bakat asing sebagai 65:35. Beliau menyedari bahawa tanpa anak watan, semangat Singapura boleh luntur dalam jangka masa panjang.
Sebenarnya, dengan jumlah penduduk sekecil 4.6 juta jiwa (termasuk sejuta orang asing), Singapura boleh dikatakan berjaya dalam setiap bidang, termasuk seni, kerana sudah mempunyai penampilan di persada dunia. Memang boleh dikeluhkan kegagalan kita membangun sistem pemupukan seni dan sukan. Ini disebabkan kita lebih mengutamakan bidang akademik atau mahu memastikan institusi pendidikan hanya ditujukan untuk keperluan menjana pekerjaan saja. Tetapi dengan memasuki liga Dunia Pertama, Singapura perlu seimbang dalam semua bidang, termasuk mencatat kehebatan dalam seni dan sukan. Masanya masih ada untuk merubah sikap ibu bapa dalam menjana bakat anak mereka.
Diharap dengan kejayaan terbaru ini akan tertancap kesedaran bahawa ada masa depan dalam bidang sukan. Singapura sudah melahirkan Dollah Kassim, yang pada zamannya terpaksa bekerja tetap dengan upah kecil untuk bermain bola sepak. Fandi Ahmad pula lebih menyerlah sehingga menjadi jutawan bola sepak. Dengan pemupukan betul, tajaan lumayan dan sikap warga yang menyokong, seni dan sukan Singapura boleh mencatatkan pencapaian yang lebih tinggi. Pokoknya, untuk setiap usaha perlu ada tumpuan dan pentadbiran sistem yang utuh.
Cyberita
OlehSarapin Rasikin
SELEPAS kejayaan Pesta Bola Sepak Legenda, Persatuan Bola Sepak Melayu Singapura (PBMS) merancang menganjurkan Pesta Bola Sepak Pantai di Sentosa pada Disember ini.
‘Selain pertandingan bola sepak pantai, kami akan mengadakan beberapa acara keluarga, termasuk permainan tradisional,’ jelas Naib Presiden PBMS, Aziz Mohammad, semalam.
‘Saya percaya acara- acara yang diadakan nanti cukup menyeronokkan sebagai kegiatan keluarga pada hujung minggu.
‘Jika diizinkan, kami juga merancang menyediakan gerai-gerai makanan.’
Menurut Aziz, beliau pernah membantu Fandi Ahmad dan syarikatnya menganjurkan pesta serupa lebih 10 tahun lalu.
‘Saya dapati sambutan keluarga terhadap pesta tersebut amat menggalakkan dan ini mendorong PBMS menghidupkannya semula,’ ujarnya sambil menambah pesta itu adalah antara projek utama PBMS.
‘Kami juga akan menganjurkan pertandingan tujuh sepasuk bagi pemain-pemain bawah 13 dan 15 tahun.’
Aziz turut mendedahkan bahawa PBMS akan menganjurkan lagi Malam Silaturahim sempena Hari Raya Aidilfitri pada lewat Oktober nanti.
‘Kami berharap majlis tahun ini dapat mengumpul lebih ramai bekas pemain dan peminat pasukan bola sepak Melayu Singapura,’ katanya.
Mengenai pertandingan Piala Emas Raja-Raja, Aziz menambah bahawa pihaknya dimaklumkan bahawa ia akan diadakan selepas Hari Raya.
‘Kami sedang dalam proses memilih pemain- pemain yang tidak terlibat dalam Liga-S,’ ujarnya lagi.
‘Kami juga diundang menyertai pertandingan tujuh sepasuk Diraja Selangor di Shah Alam dari 1 hingga 3 Ogos ini.’
PBMS juga sedang memikirkan projek mengumpul dana, termasuk nasi beriani amal dan bercadang membuka gerai semasa bazar Ramadan di kawasan Masjid Sultan.
Cyberita
‘Duta’ Singapura
Posted on: June 30, 2008
Bintang remaja wakili negara
di Sukan Disney Channel
OlehHaryani Ismail
BERTEMU dengan bintang kegilaan remaja seperti The Jonas Brothers dan dilayan seperti orang ternama (VIP) di acara ‘permaidani merah’.
Tidak cukup dengan itu – bintang remaja, Muhammad Farez Juraini, dapat ‘lamaran’ daripada Cinderella dan bermalam di pusat peranginan mewah dan taman bertema, Animal Kingdom.
‘Asal bangun pagi dan jenguk dari jendela saja, saya nampak kuda belang dan zirafah bagaikan mengucapkan ‘Selamat Pagi’ kepada saya.
‘Saya dan ibu akan terlari-lari dan sibuk merakamkan foto menerusi kamera jaringan. Ibu bawa komputer bimbitnya dan kami mengirimkan foto-foto itu kepada ayah, abang dan adik di rumah,’ cerita Muhammad Farez, 14 tahun, pelajar Sekolah Menengah Yuan Ching dengan ghairah.
Pelakon drama mobisod (episod dalam telefon bimbit) remaja Disney Channel, As The Bell Rings, itu bertuah sebab dipilih oleh pejabat Disney Channel di Singapura untuk mewakili negara dalam Sukan Disney Channel 2008, April lalu.
Selama dua minggu, Muhammad Farez dan ibunya, Cik Shaherah Arshad, berada di Disney World, Florida, bersama lebih 38 bintang Disney antarabangsa (dari 15 negara) dan ibu bapa mereka.
Sukan Disney Channel 2008 merupakan program televisyen persis pertandingan Sukan Olimpik yang membariskan pelakon-pelakon popular Disney Channel.
Ia dimulakan dua tahun lalu dan melibatkan empat pasukan (biru, kuning, merah dan hijau) yang bersaing dalam beberapa permainan seperti obstacle course, hamster ball relay dan mountain climb relay.
Acara ini melibatkan perlumbaan berganti-ganti di mana setiap individu ada tugas dan mereka perlu merentasi ujian melibatkan ‘bola raksasa’ atau ‘gunung raksasa’.
Ini merupakan kali pertama bintang Disney di luar Amerika Syarikat dilibatkan dalam sukan ini. Zac Efron dan Miley Cyrus adalah antara bintang yang pernah menyertainya.
Obor mendapat tahu Muhammad Farez dipilih untuk mewakili Singapura dan adalah peserta termuda di dalam keseluruhan siri sukan itu berdasarkan semangat kepimpinannya dan juga keupayaan berkomunikasi.
‘Mula-mula saya segan dan takut juga untuk mendekati bintang-bintang ternama ini seperti The Jonas Brothers dan Jason Dolley dari filem Disney, Minutemen.
‘Ternyata, mereka peramah dan merendah diri. Mereka juga seperti belia lain yang suka berseronok dan berjenaka. Mereka amat menghargai peminat mereka dan itulah aspek yang paling kool tentang mereka,’ ujar Muhammad Farez, anak kedua dalam tiga beradik.
Dia mewakili kumpulan biru dan banyak belajar tentang kerjasama meskipun sesetengah bintang antarabangsa tidak fasih dan lancar berbahasa Inggeris.
‘Saya hanya perlu memerhatikan lenggok tubuh mereka. Mereka dari negara Amerika Latin seperti Mexico dan Argentina tak begitu petah berbahasa Inggeris tetapi kerjasama mereka memang hebat,’ kata Muhammad Farez, yang turut menjayakan watak Fandi Ahmad masih kecil dalam filem tempatan, Kallang Roar.
Walaupun beliau di rantauan, pelajarannya tidak dilupakan. Sebagai jenama antarabangsa yang dikaitkan dengan program-program bernilai dan berunsur pendidikan, Disney Channel memastikan peserta terus meluangkan masa mengulangkaji pelajaran.
‘Kami perlu hantar sukatan pendidikan kami kepada penganjur Sukan Disney Channel. Mereka pastikan Farez datang kelas dan belajar pada hari yang ditetapkan,’ tambah Cik Shaherah.
Ditanya pengalaman yang paling menyeronokkan baginya, Muhammad Farez berkata:
‘Bertemu The Jonas Brothers yang memang saya minati sebab mereka memiliki vokal yang lunak dan unik.
‘Seperkara lagi, ketika berada di acara ‘permaidani merah’, saya tak sangka peminat-peminat di Amerika iaitu gadis-gadis ini begitu menghormati kami juga.
‘Tentunya bintang ternama dapat lebih perhatian. Tetapi ada juga yang berusaha mengenali saya dan turut memekik nama saya sewaktu saya sedang berjalan.’
Cik Shaherah bangga dan terharu dengan pencapaian anaknya.
‘Ibu mana yang tidak terharu apabila anaknya diberi kepercayaan mewakili negara dalam acara antarabangsa seperti ini.
‘Namun, saya selalu berpesan kepada Farez agar tidak mengambil tugas ini sebagai glamor semata. Dia harus merendah diri dan bekerja keras supaya dapat dicontohi remaja yang menontonnya di kaca televisyen.
‘Tiada yang percuma dalam hidup ini. Orang beri kita kepercayaan dan wang (pendapatan untuk lakonan), kita harus berikan 100 peratus daya usaha kita. Jangan buang peluang keemasan ini,’ tambahnya.
Untuk tonton Muhammad Farez beraksi dalam Sukan Disney Channel, nantikan Ogos ini.
Cyberita
THE year started with a bang and ended on another high note, with enough in between to make 2007 one of Singapore sport’s most bountiful years.
Kicking things off were the Lions, who won their second straight Asean Football Championship, and third ever, with a 3-2 aggregate win over Thailand.
The Lions’ 2-1 win at the National Stadium on Jan 31 was marred by a 15-minute delay when Thai players walked off the pitch in protest of a penalty awarded to Singapore, but there was no argument over the 1-1 draw in the return leg in Bangkok on Feb 4. The triumph energised Singapore sports, and kick-started a bountiful year for Singapore sports.
In May, it was announced that Formula 1 will come roaring into Singapore next season. As if the prospect of watching Ferrari’s 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen and rookie sensation Lewis Hamilton of McLaren-Mercedes race around Marina Square and the civic district, the Sept 28 race will be Formula 1’s first night race.
The Formula 1 fever continued to rise, as the government announced plans for a permanent racetrack in Changi, a move that could see the arrival of international races like the A1 Grand Prix, GT1 Championship and MotoGP. International sailing’s “Formula One” equivalent, the Volvo Ocean Race, also confirmed Singapore as its fourth pit-stop for the 2008/2009 round-the-world race.
In November, Asia’s richest golf tournament, the US$4 million ($5.8 million) Barclays Singapore Open 2007, brought in golf stars such as world No 2 Phil Mickelson, Angel Cabrera, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh. The star-studded event drew a total of more than 30,000 spectators over four days, a 50 per cent increase from the previous year, to Sentosa Golf Club’s Serapong course.
Singapore’s sports calendar next year will be further boosted by the addition of the inaugural HSBC Women’s Champions event, Asia’s biggest women’s golf event. Gracing the US$2 million (S$2.9 million) event at Tanah Merah Country Club will be big names such as Annika Sorenstam and Pak Se Ri.
Later that month, the Lions made history. After beating Tajikistan 2-0 here on Nov 9, Singapore drew 1-1 in Dushanbe on Nov 18 to book their place in the third round, the first time the Lions have made the group stages of Asian World Cup qualifying. The national squad will now face Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Uzbekistan in Group 4 in the third round from February until June, with the top two teams advancing to the fourth round.
While qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa may still be a big ask, the Lions have taken a step further than the famed 1977 and 1994 Malaysia Cup squads that boasted the likes of Quah Kim Song and Fandi Ahmad, respectively.
The national players returned in time for the climax of the NTUC Income-Yeo’s S-League 2007 season, the closest in its 12-year history. Up until the last day of the season, Nov 22, three teams had a chance of winning the title. All three managed to post wins on that final day, and SAFFC successfully defended their title with 79 points, just one point more than Home United and two ahead of Tampines Rovers.
The 24th SEA Games earlier this month capped off a memorable year.
Team Singapore sent its youngest ever contingent of athletes to Thailand – with 45 per cent of the 423 athletes aged 21 and below – and they came back with 43 gold medals, the best haul at an “away Games”. The previous best was 42 gold medals in the Philippines two years ago.
Between all the highs, there were sobering lessons to be learnt.
On June 24, 17-year old national triathlete Thaddeus Cheong collapsed and died after completing a SEA Games time trial at the Tanah Merah Country Club. The sudden death of the Raffles Junior College student shocked the sporting community, and prompted the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports to set up a 12-member Sports Safety Committee to assess and recommend safety measures for sports events.
Tragedy struck again in at the Singapore Bay Run in August, when army captain Ho Si Qiu collapsed after crossing the line at the 21km race, and last month when national dragon boaters Jeremy Goh, Poh Boon San, Stephen Loh, Reuben Kee and Chee Wei Cheng perished when their craft capsized after a race on Cambodia’s Tonle Sap river.
Questions were also raised over the section criteria of national sports associations – a perennial bugbear for sports administrators and athletes – in the lead up to the SEA Games.
Triathlete Gino Ng sued the Triathlon Association of Singapore in October after they failed to nominate him for the biennial event, while silat exponent Muhammad Imran Abdul Rahman found himself dropped from the Korat-bound squad at the eleventh hour after having missed too many training sessions.
Similar incidents occurred in squash and basketball. The participation of China-born throwers Zhang Guirong and Dong Enxin in the SEA Games was also called into question after the duo left abruptly for China in August and September respectively.
But all was not lost for Zhang, whose dispute with the Singapore Athletic Association over pay and training arrangements first began 18 months ago.
She returned to the fold in mid-November before going on to defend her SEA Games shot put gold.
And what better way to round up 2007 than with a touch of glamour and hard-hitting action as Russian tennis ace Maria Sharapova takes on compatriot Anna Chakvetadze in a challenge match at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Dec 30.
If this is the sign of things to come, bring on 2008 we say.
Powered by Channel News Asia
Come Sunday, Kit Chan will hold the distinction of being the last singer ever to belt out a song in front of a crowd of thousands at the National Stadium.
That’s something definitely worth bragging about, considering that the venue has played host to the biggest names in pop music: Mariah Carey and Michael Jackson.
And aptly, Chan, 34, will be performing ‘Live Our Dreams’ at Field Of Dreams – A Tribute to the National Stadium, the stadium’s official closing ceremony on Saturday.
The song was commissioned back in 2005 by the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) for Team Singapore in preparation for the country’s participation in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games in Manila.
“It’s the most appropriate song,” she said in a phone interview yesterday prior to official rehearsals tonight. She then recited a lyric from the song written by David Tan and composer Thomas Sch‶nberg: “There’s no place I’d rather be.”
“This song is about the sportsmen and women of Singapore,” the regional superstar said, adding that she’ll be getting help when Team Singapore members – from anywhere between 30 and 100 – who will come on stage for the chorus part.
“It’s a very ‘We Are The World’ thing,” she said with a laugh. Chan admitted she has never actually performed the song live, as only a video was made for TV in 2005.
Field Of Dreams, which is organised by SSC, kicks off with a rocking set by the John Molina-led band Krueger, followed by a short friendly match between legendary footballers from Singapore and Malaysia, including Fandi Ahmad, Quah Kim Song, Samad Allapitchay and V Sundramoorthy.
Team Singapore athletes, led by ex-national sprinter C Kunalan, will take charge of a lighting ceremony before Singapore faces off against Australia in a match.
After this, father-and-son sports presenters Brian and Mark Richmond will host a tribute video presentation before Chan takes to the stage – as a symbolic caldron flame is doused.
It is a fitting moment for a singer whose career has, in some ways, been associated with the Grand Old Dame.
Chan has performed for two National Day Parades at the stadium. She first sang the theme song ‘Home’ in 1998.
In 2004, she did a reprieve during fellow Singapore singer J J Lin’s hip-hop rendition of the same song. This year, she is set to sing the theme song – but the festivities will be held at the 27,000-seater Marina Bay Floating Stadium, which is currently under construction.
“I’ve sung on stage at the National Stadium three to four times for various events, but the most significant would be in 1998. It was the first time (a) song for the National Day Parade (was sung) and everyone was ‘kancheong’ (Hokkien for “uptight”).
I wore a big burgundy gown and high heels, and walked down an incredibly steep flight of stairs,” Chan reminisced.
Singing at the home of the Kallang Roar has always been a unique experience.
“The stage is 360 degrees and there’s no other venue that will give you this kind of feeling,” she said, adding however that the place can be a nightmare for performers.
“The echoes will kill you, and you have to rely on ear monitors all the time!”
Like everyone else, she has her own memories of the place – and not all of them from the stage. Recalling the national sports meets she attended in her younger days, the country’s first National Youth Ambassador said: “I used to be a cheerleader at Raffles Girls’ School and we were notorious for being very loud!”
But in the end, practicality wins, she agreed. “As much as you love her, the National Stadium is kind of crumbling. You can never be too sentimental especially when it comes to stadiums that hold sports events that need state-of-the-art facilities. But it is good that we are able to end on a big bang.”
And a Big Bang it will be, courtesy of a fireworks display after Chan’s performance.
After which, the second part of the night’s festivities begin.
The pitch will then be transformed into a dance floor for LightsOut, a dance party with Zouk DJs B and Andrew Chow spinning hip-hop and a mishmash of retro music from the club’s iconic Mambo Jambo Wednesday nights. According to Zouk marketing manager Tracy Philips, around 6,000 people are expected to join in the fun.
Take it from Kit Chan: There’s no place you should rather be, indeed. –
Channel News Asia
SINGAPORE : Players begin their careers not even thinking about joining the select Century Club: The journey is too long, the obstacles innumerable.
For any footballer to play at least 100 matches for his country – one of the most hallowed marks in sport – distinguishes him as one of its best players in a decade or more.
For the last seven years, Fandi Ahmad thought he had played 100 international matches for Singapore.
It now looks as if he is short of the mark, by six caps. The source of this confusion? An apparent administrative oversight by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS).
Fandi is not the only Singapore centurion who seems not to have actually crossed the 100-international match mark, according to Fifa records.
Former Lions goalkeeper David Lee, reported to have collected 105 caps in a 17-year international career, is short by 10 caps.
Ex-Lions skipper Nazri Nasir falls short by three matches. According to FAS records, he collected 104 international caps when he last played for Singapore against Malaysia in April 2004. But according to Fifa’s records, Nazri only has 97.
In a report on May 22, TODAY revealed that football’s world governing body Fifa had, for the first time, admitted two Singapore players to its exclusive Century Club.
The list released in March included defenders Aide Iskandar and S Subramani among a group of 137 elite footballers, including Franz Beckenbauer, Bobby Charlton and Paolo Maldini.
But apart from Fandi, former Singapore greats Samad Allapitchay, Lee and Malek Awab were missing from the list – even though all were inducted as centurions by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in a glitzy ceremony in 2000.
The AFC had based their selection on records submitted by the FAS in 1999. But a check by TODAY of Fandi, Lee and Nazri’s records, and of newspaper reports dating back to September 1979, showed that the FAS made mistakes with various games.
According to Fifa, only World Cup matches (including preliminary competitions), continental competitions like the Asian Cup (including qualifiers) and friendly matches between senior national teams qualify as ‘A’ internationals – the benchmark for a cap.
Friendly matches must satisfy certain criteria, such as neutral referees, to be recognised as ‘A’ internationals. In Fandi’s case, four of the six matches in question were friendlies that did not meet the bar. The other two occurred in the 1992 Merlion Cup, when Singapore took on the Thai Olympic side made up of a number of teenagers, and the South Korea B team.
The FAS admitted that its previous system of record-keeping was not ideal.
Said spokesman Eric Ong: “The FAS accepts that we may have under-invested in our records-keeping practices in the past.
“But we can assure everyone that for the past decade, all our records have been maintained and kept up to date diligently.”
Fandi, who represented Singapore for 19 years, could not hide his disappointment. “I guess you can say that I feel very let down,” said the 45-year-old, now based in Jakarta as coach of club Pelita Jaya.
“I played at nine SEA Games – that means I already have 36 caps, even if we did not make it to the latter stages.
“But we reached the final three times. How can I not have 100 caps?”
Tampines Rovers skipper Nazri said: “I am really disappointed. But at this point in my career, that’s something I cannot change.” –
Channel News Asia
SINGAPORE : June 30 is the day the Kallang National Stadium officially closes down.
But it’s not going without a bang.
The closing day event will try to relive as many memories as possible.
If you grew up on Malaysia Cup football matches, you’ll find the friendly match between Singapore and Malaysia particularly exciting, with Quah Kim Song and Fandi Ahmad back for a final game.
But it’s not just the ball game that will tease your memory.
Patrick Lee, chairman of National Stadium Closure Committee, said: “One of the things that we’re trying to recreate as well is the atmosphere during the Malaysia Cup days.
“Those who have been to the national stadium during the matches will remember the concession stall runners. These are the ones who will carry the little box with the ‘kopi’ and go ‘Drinks! Kopi-o! Curry puff!’ These are the things that we want to recreate for them.”
Football fans can also look forward to an international friendly between Singapore and Australia.
Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka are just some of many notable names on the Australian team.
But the National Stadium was more than a place for football matches.
Organisers have put a performance by Kit Chan and a parade by local athletes on the line-up.
Topping everything off is an all night dance party with Zouk’s DJs.
Tickets to these events are already on sale.
For those who want to take home a piece of the National Stadium, there’s a special commemorative mug.
“The mug has several special features – it has a tea strainer with a cover, but what’s important is the colour changing quality. On one side, you’ve got a sepia tone colour picture of the National Stadium in construction. On the other side, if you pour hot water into the mug, you’ll see the brown wallpaper transforms into a colourful picture of the National Day Parade,” said Juliana Lim, director of Public Affairs & Corporate Social Responsibility, Singapore Pools.
20,000 of the commemorative mugs will be retailing at $12 each.
The Singapore Pools hopes to raise $150,000 for the President’s Challenge.
Sale of the commemorative mugs will start on Thursday at all Singapore Pools outlets. – CNA /ls
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When it comes to football, if there’s one thing a player has to be able to do, it’s adjust to change.
One minute a team can be up 1-0 and cruising towards victory, the next it can find itself fighting for its life after yielding two quick goals.
Surprisingly, it’s not all that different for a film-maker, who can start out making a movie about one thing and end up with a work about something else entirely.
That’s what happened with the homegrown documentary The Kallang Wave, which goes into general release tonight at the Picturehouse after being screened last month as part of the cinema’s first anniversary.
Produced at a cost of about $100,000 by a group of seven fresh mass communications graduates from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, The Kallang Wave began in 2003 as a nostalgic look at the National Stadium ahead of its planned demolition to make way for a new Sports Hub.
“But as we interviewed people like Fandi Ahmad, Malek Awab, Quah Kim Song and former Singapore national coaches P N Sivaji and Sebastian Yap to get their take on the stadium’s importance,” said Lee Yanfeng, who co-directed the film along with Hanafi Ramdan, “we realised that almost everyone wanted to talk more about Singapore football than the Grand Old Dame.”
What Lee, Hanafi and the five others ended up with was the story of Singapore – compiled partly through the editing down of about 120 hours of archive and interview footage — as told through the dreams and pain of the nation’s footballers and fans.
“We hoped to use football to talk about the bigger theme of the erosion of passion among Singaporeans,” said Daniel Yap, the film’s writer and narrator.
“The underlying message of the film is not to let the pursuit of success be at the expense of passion.”
The most poignant scene in the film was shot during an open-top bus ride by the Lions after they had captured their second Asean Football Championship – then known as Tiger Cup – in 2005.
While photos of the players displaying the trophy atop the bus have been widely seen, what many people don’t realise is that the team was barely acknowledged as they did the rounds of bustling Orchard Road.
“We had just won the Tiger Cup for the second time,” recalled Lee.
“But as the players soaked in the celebration and waved enthusiastically to the crowd along the busy streets, almost no one bothered to wave back.”
Much as the film-makers hope that The Kallang Wave becomes a widely-seen record of a rich period in Singapore sports history, above all, their aim is to provide audiences with food for thought.
“We want people to think about the film after watching it, and hope that they will ask themselves the questions that we did,” said Yap.
Added Lee of the three-year process of reviewing the nation’s sporting history: “It made us feel so sad to ask ourselves – ‘What happened to Singapore’s passion?’.” –
Channel News Asia
SINGAPORE: Soccer legends from Europe and South America played a charity match in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on Tuesday.
They included former Liverpool winger Mark Walters, Brazil’s Careca and Dunga and Colombia’s Carlos Valderramma.
They faced an Asian XI made up of top players.
They included an Indonesia All-Stars team comprising several internationals who played in the recent Tiger Cup, as well as Southeast Asian soccer legends like Malaysia’s Zainal Abidin Hassan, Thailand’s Piyapong Pue-On and Singapore’s very own Fandi Ahmad.
Mark Walters scored a hat-trick, including one in the 54th minute.
His side eventually beat the Asians 4-3.
Proceeds from the match will go towards paying for the education of children affected by the Dec 26 tsunami disaster.
The players will also hold a charity auction and visit the children in Aceh. – CNA
Channel News Asia
My Soccer World 